https://jennyeholland.substack.com/p/behold-the-hideousness-of-madonna

Well, the first two weeks of 2023 are in the past, and as we hurtle toward whatever future awaits us in this period of monumental but as yet unannounced change, I find that some things are coming into clearer focus for me.

In December, I wrote about how arresting I found the Fifth Generation Warfare concept and my interest in it has only grown since then. It seamlessly blends together my two enduring interests: war and conflict between states and people, and high-low culture’s influence on our lives. Until I read about 5GW, I thought these were two separate things. Now I realise they are not.

I grew up in the 1980’s and 1990’s, which, looking back, now seems like a golden age for pop culture — and also the era in which is rooted our current cultural decay. If you allow me to overwork a metaphor: the seeds of this rot were planted in the 1960’s, and the roots became infected in the ’80’s-’90’s. The rot was there, but we couldn’t see it yet. It was under the surface.

Now, it’s ugly, diseased fruit has burst, and I see it in almost every piece of new pop that I come across.